The Dark Of Night
by mountain ash
Summary: Valek can't sleep, and is thinking of Yelena while carving her snake bracelet. Takes place during Magic Study. Could be continued  if I get reviews telling me to make it a two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

The room was dark, lit only by a dim lantern or two. Shadows danced on the walls near the light like wraiths.

Valek stood near one such light, with a hunk of crow feather-black stone resting in his palm. Warmth bled from his skin into the rock, heating it. In his other hand he held a carving tool like a pen.

It was not often that he had down time- suspecting plots, snooping, stopping plots, assassinations, training and keeping an eye on food tasters, training and directing soldiers, and strategizing with the Commander tended to strain his schedule.

His hands carefully, silently shaped the stone between his fingers.

But his mind was far from silent.

Yelena had left around two seasons ago. Two seasons ago, he made her a promise that this would not be the end. Two seasons ago, he said goodbye to half of his heart.

Recently, he had felt flickers. Like the beating wings of a butterfly Yelena's voice would echo in his head for a handful of instants, then go quiet again. Eventually, the flicker was long enough to see that she was in danger, to feel her heartbeat gaining speed.

He didn't know how, but he always felt drained after these flickers. On the latest, he had felt himself trying to help Yelena, giving her strength. Flickers kept coming, so he assumed she lived.

It was late. The moon was out, and the stars sparkling. He should be sleeping like teh rest of the castle. And he had been, earlier that evening. He had woken from a dream, thinking Yelena was next to him, wrapped in long, green snakes, trying to escape. And odd dream-not what usually awaited him when he sheathed his eyes for the night.

Though it was not the first time he had dreamed of Yelena.

He had lain awake with his mind spinning. When all hope of drifting to sleep again had gone, he had hauled himself up here.

Yelena. Her life was a tangled mess. Though he couldn't say he wasn't happy about that-her twisting, turning, knotted fate was what had first thrown her into his life. Like a snake's coils.

Whether it was his dream or mental analogy, when he palmed the inky black stone, he began shaping a snake.

Slowly, a chunk separated itself from the mass. The shape grew more precise-the sleek head of a little black snake common in southern Ixia. Mini fangs grew outwards from a thin mouth. Valek smiled. A possible weapon disguised as a flashy piece of jewelry.

Soon enough, eyes like obsidian beads completed the snake's reptilian face. Here he paused-what was he going to do with a gaudy bracelet strong enough and shaped in such a way that it could be used for…multiple purposes?

Yelena. She inspired it. It would be a reunion gift.

He looked at his half-carved bracelet with new eyes, now that he knew who it was for. Thinking of the previously dangerous-looking reptile with uncaring eyes and sharp fangs, some revisions were in order.

First he took a knife to the eyes. From dead and uncaring he tried to duplicate a spark of something. Yelena's eyes had been dead and uncaring when she was dragged into his office in chains. After a few minutes and a sorry scrap of hope thrown her way, there had been such a spark.

Emotion. The eyes needed a touch of emotion.

Within a minute of steadily carving with the knife-tip, the snake was crying. A single black stone tear dripped from the left eye.

Yelena. The second time he saw her, she had been cleansed of grime and put into a poison taster's uniform. She had looked as delicate as and orchid petal. He had found out soone enough that she was more of a snow cat, but first impressions were always important.

He began re-shaping the head a little, softening the curves. It was supposed to be jewelry, after all.

She had always smelled like lavender. When he had begun to realize he loved her, he had come to relax the tiniest bit with that particualr scent. Then her distrustful words would cut him, and he would be on guard again, ready to defend against an onslaught of blows.

Coils began to twist around his had like the stem of a carnation, the head of the snake like a coriander bud.

Valek smiled to himself. Yelena always made him think of flowers. He should get the gardener to plant some lavender...

Scales began to appear, winding down the length of the little black snake that would rest against Yelena's pulse when the next met.

Soon, the stone had a spark and a life. Slightly larger than his last present to her, it sat in his hand, thoroughly warmed by his hands.

The oil in the lamps dwindled, and the light was going out. Grasping his latest creation, he ghosted into the halls, striding towards his suite. The snake's fangs bit into his skin a little. Definitely a possible weapon.

Over his bed, pinned to the wall, was a map of Sitia. He claimed to have it for strategic purposes only. The Commander wasn't fooled. It didn't help that he had notes all over it based on his flickerings, guessing where Yelena was. These notes were concentrated around three areas-the Zaltana territory, where he knew she was headed, the capitol of Sitia, to keep up appearances and because he was convinced she would go there to study magic, and around the Sitia-Ixia border, where he liked to imagine she was.

Valek bent over and blew on the candle, extinguishing the flame. Darkness commenced-there were no windows in his suite. No view of the stars or moon. In this perfect lighting, he could dream of Yelena.

The blackness didn't last long.

Footsteps. Valek's ears pricked up, though his breath remained regular. A timid knock rapped on his door, as if whoever was on the other side half expected to be attacked with a knife. He rolled his eyes.

Opening the door, he saw that a servant stood with a piece of paper in one hand, quivering. From the expression on the servant's face, you would have thought Valek was a rabid dog, foaming at the mouth and growling. Repressing a laugh, he reached out to take the paper. No sooner was the paper out of his hand then the servant turned and tried to leave without looking like he was fleeing.

Ah, well. The low-level servants who didn't come into contact with him as often were always scared.

He unrolled the paper, careful not to smear the freshly-applied ink, and read through it. A smile lifted the corners of his lips.

"Adviser Ilam" was Sitia-bound come first light.

**I noticed recently that the Study series had way too few stories, so I decided to help remedy that. **

**I could continue this, and write a second chapter in which he gives the bracelet to Yelena, but I'm going to call it complete until that happens-it was written as a one-shot. Tell me if you would like to write said second chapter. **

**Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

The Citadel was dark. Every blind corner was ill-lit, every building casting a deep shadow, light seemingly cascading from every window. Every once in a while you might stumble on a lantern or candle lit and hanging from the ceiling. It was a patchwork of light and dark and shadow and half-light that most people couldn't navigate quite like they could the same place in the light of day.

If one were to look real closely at one shadow in particular on the balcony of one of the towers in the Keep, they might just notice the faint outline of a man. Maybe.

Valek stood with his back pressed to the green-veined stone, listening to the faint bustle of servants cleaning, waiting for the soft slam like a wave hitting rock of a door being closed. He didn't have to wait long.

Like a cat he crept into the Yelena's room, glancing around to be sure he was truly alone. He wouldn't want some quiet, slow servant to see him and raise the alarm. Sure enough, Yelena's room was silent.

Downstairs, the Council was still crawling snail-style to its decision-it would be awhile before Yelena was free to go to her rooms.

He was here as Adviser Ilam. He would have much preferred to meet Yelena under better circumstances, but his presence was not likely to help the tentative peace the Commander was trying to construct.

He had stood in the same room as her, but could not even dare to glance at her. He could hear her voice, but he could not speak to her. He wasn't sure how he had managed to listen to the Council and "Ambassador Signe" discuss and debate-the Council's method of decision making was the single slowest way he had ever seen. Sitting in one of their sessions was akin to watching grass grow.

Yelena had to come to her room eventually. The Council couldn't keep her locked like a caged canary in the meeting room all night long, could they?

Hopefully when she arrived the snake bracelet would be curled around her wrist. It had been a long night making it, followed by depressing dreams afterwards-he felt joy in having them, sure, but the hollowness that ensued come morning trumped that.

He had only made one change since that night.

He had noticed when he was originally carving it that the eyes had looked like the dead eyes of a killer. He had tried to remedy that with a carved tear. But it had not been enough. Color was needed, and some sort of gleam.

It wasn't long before the answer came to him. He wanted Yelena to be able to twist the carving on her wrist and think of him. So he gave it eyes to match his own. The first night on the way through Sitia, he had taken metal to his fancy dress sword that he never used and spent twenty minutes prying two blue sapphires out of their decorative place on his sword hilt. He didn't need them anyway-they held no purpose.

Yelena still wasn't back yet. Judging by where the moon was he guessed she had been at that meeting for a solid hour since Adviser Ilam had been excused.

He hoped when she came she would have the bracelet-he had given it to Janco minutes before entering that Council session. Janco was here as a common soldier, and could get around the Keep without getting stopped, unlike an adviser, who would probably stay near the Ambassador like a moon to a planet.

Hopefully Janco hadn't dropped it in a pond or broke it in a fight he picked.

Looking around the room, he noticed a statue sitting near his chair. It was made of beautiful rocks attached in the form of some type of monkey. He had seen these before, in southern Sitia, running around and screeching and playing the part of pet to the people living in the southern jungle. They were quite popular there-perhaps Yelena's family lived in that jungle.

Reaching down, he palmed it and lifted it closer to his eye to examine it. It was masterfully crafted-a lot of care had gone into this statue.

Had something happened to Yelena? Why wasn't she here yet? The Council was only scheduled to do until eleven-it had to be later than that by now!

His ears perked up. There were voices in the hallway, moving towards Yelena's room. Grinning, Valek stood up on his chair, latched his hands onto Yelena's wall, and quickly climbed up to the ceiling. Once there, he moved to the corner closest to the door, which was also the darkest corner in the room-had a raven nested there, no one would ever know.

Two oversized guard-types entered Yelena's room. They looked around (not remotely as thoroughly as someone Valek had picked out of a lineup would have) then exited. Whoever had assigned Yelena's guards should to be fired. Their idea of guarding someone was as ridiculous as it was ineffective. Putting two giants on either side of Yelena would not stop a determined killer unless they could actually search a room thoroughly. Or at least stop someone if they were surprised. But Valek doubted they could do that-their movements were ungraceful and (in one case) unstable.

They didn't search with magic, either. That may have made up for their lack of attention to detail, but those two goons did nothing of the sort. Valek felt no syrup in the air, no magic trying to reach him and failing.

"All clear." Valek smirked.

Then his smirk grew to a full blown grin when Yelena finally entered her room. Silently, he ghosted down his high perch down to the chair he had sat in earlier. Yelena didn't hear him, and began stoking up a fire. The flames leaped from the hearth, backlighting his love's silhouette. The coals glowed, like misshaped fireflies, and heat began to waft into her stone rooms, which had slowly been turning to ice.

"That's better."

Yelena spun around so fast she nearly tumbled headfirst to the floor.

Valek smiled. Of course, she would go and tell him exactly why it was dangerous for him to be here, and she would he worried that he wasn't in disguise-but he could assuage her fears.

Finally, a night alone with Yelena.

**Please Review!**


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